Silver halide photographic materials are liable to surface scratching and abrasion due to contact friction with various materials during coating, drying and finishing in manufacture, and during winding and rewinding or transporting when the material is being used for taking photographs, development processing exposure and projection, for example. They are also liable to other undesirable effects such as poor sensitive material driving properties in cameras and projectors. With silver halide photographic materials in particular, the silver halide which is used as the photosensitive substance is also very sensitive to pressure, and damage to the film causes pressure fogging and desensitization, which has an adverse effect on the photographic image.
Consequently, various methods have been put forward in the past for improving the physical properties of photosensitive materials so that they are less prone to damage and have improved driving properties by reducing the normal sliding friction of silver halide photographic materials.
Known methods of reducing the sliding friction of silver halide photographic materials include, for example, including dimethylsilicones and specified surfactants in the photographic emulsion layers or protective layers as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,042,522; including a triphenyl terminal block methylphenylsilicone in the protective layer, as disclosed in British Patent 1,143,118; including the ester compounds disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,121,060; and including the ester compounds disclosed in JP-A-51-14163. (The term "JP-A" as used herein means "unexamined published Japanese patent application".
However, when these lubricant are used, undesirable droplet-like marks (referred to below as droplet marks) are formed on drying after photographic processing.